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User blog:Thantosiet/The Calling of the Ocean: A Review
As of now, The Calling of the Ocean has just begun its second season. It was created by the same people who made The Scale Sisters, begun before its accidental deletion. The Plot Alone in the house one afternoon, Lucy finds a rhyming message in a book, which leads her on a scavenger hunt. Obeying the instructions, she drinks the red potion she finds, and the next day, when she takes a drink of water, she pops a tail. A few shenanigans (including getting “moonstruck” by the sun) later, she gets a telepathic message. The stranger explains that she’s the one responsible for turning Lucy into a mermaid: it’s Lucy’s destiny to stop the Black Mermaid from destroying the world, with help from “the teleporting boy.” The old mermaid tried a long time ago, but now the Black Mermaid is back. Lucy accepts the mission. The teleporting boy turns out to be Jack, Lucy’s friend, and thanks to a potion she whips up, he gains his powers—only for the Black Mermaid to telepathically threaten them. Lucy and Jack go to the beach, where they find two potions from the past mermaid, which Jack drinks to gain more powers. Unfortunately, the Black Mermaid shows up at this point, and the pair flee. Jack is confronted in the kitchen by a dog speaking in the Black Mermaid’s voice. She traps his mind inside the dog’s body, but Lucy frees him. That done, they notice that the sun is still out, even though it’s midnight. As the two wonder what to do, Jack finds a ring, which lets him open doors that Lucy mysteriously can't. Midnight passes, and Lucy gets “sunstruck,” being possessed by the Black Mermaid. She tells Jake that she intends to destroy the entire universe, and leaves. Later, Jack confronts the Black Mermaid, announcing he’s going to destroy her. She isn’t concerned, until he throws the ring at her, which exorcises her from Lucy and into the dog. It runs away. However, she’s left traces of her DNA in Lucy’s body to turn her into a Black Mermaid. The pair quickly cook up a potion to stop it. The Characters Lucy carries most of the season, playing herself, the past mermaid, and the Black Mermaid. As herself, she’s fairly mellow and a bit snarky, with the usual tendency to talk to herself constantly so the audience knows what’s going on. The past mermaid is a bit sweeter, I suppose, and more serious, acting as a guide to Lucy and Jack, though not an all-knowing one. The Black Mermaid is ominous and threatening—until she takes over Lucy’s body, but more on that below. Jack, our other main character, is a fun balance for Lucy, fast-talking and chill most of the time, and he has the best lines. I get the feeling that he ad-libs a lot. On the other hand, he comes off as afraid to take himself seriously, acting sheepish and goofy in what should be dramatic scenes. I hope either he adjusts (at the very least, bad drama is much funnier than weak comedy) or the writing does, so he doesn't keep ending up in these kinds of scenes, especially alone. Technicals Any show that uses Chameleon Circuit for the theme song automatically wins. The camera and sound are pretty strong, windy shoots excepted. Special effects are virtually nonexistent, but most of the magic is confined to potions, so it’s not as noticeable as it could be. Now if they could only figure out the “zoom” function . . . TCOTO 4.png|I get the feeling they weren't actually going for a Dutch angle Best Moment “The Girl How Looks Like Me,” Season 1, Episode 3 We finally get a payoff for the buildup to why Lucy got a tail in the first place. Lucy starts having visions of a girl who looks exactly like her. Finally, she gets through, and explains that she’s the mermaid who turned Lucy. When Lucy asks why, she explains the Black Mermaid’s origin story, as well as her own, and the prophecy. TCOTO 1.png I’m fascinated by the past mermaid. There are so many unanswered questions about her: Who is she? What's her name? When did she fight the Black Mermaid? How is she guiding Lucy? What does she really look like? If I were to write fanfiction about any mermaid show I’ve watched, it would be her story. TCOTO 2.png The acting in this sequence is strong as well: Lucy is unusually serious, and the actress makes the two characters distinct. Even the technicals hold up, going into black-and-white to show Lucy’s jumping into the conversation. The mythology behind the show is explained in convincing dialogue, and the overarching plot kicks into gear. This is my favorite element of the show: the characters have an ultimate goal right from the beginning. The sequences of practicing new powers aren’t aimless: they’re preparing to fight a battle, with the fate of the world in the balance. This is how you use past mermaid subplots, to advance the story, not just as an excuse to throw in some new powers. Yes, a power upgrade happens here too, but the focus is on the plot. Worst Moment “Finale,” Season 1, Episode 7 It’s the season finale. The Black Mermaid has possessed Lucy’s body and intends to destroy the universe while Jack stood dumbly by, powers forgotten. Now, it's up to him to stop her, even though she's far more powerful, in the two hours before she floods the world. So what does he do? Walk up to her, announce he’s going to destroy her, randomly spritz her with water (to no effect), and then throw a ring at her. Her soul gets kicked out of Lucy’s body and takes over the dog, which runs away. To be fair, the previous episode established that this kind of thing was possible, with the Black Mermaid doing it to Jack. It also showed how ridiculously easy the situation was to undo, so I guess that explains why she returns so quickly. TCOTO 7.png|Almost literally a shaggy dog story Oh yes, and all of this happens in the first minute of the episode. One-twelfth of the season finale. The rest is devoted to making a potion to cure Lucy of the DNA the Black Mermaid infected her with (don’t ask). Talk about a letdown. In previous episodes the Black Mermaid was scary. Her repeated, simple threats made her come off as an intensely focused psychopath. Now she’s completely unconcerned with Jack, or even destroying the universe. TCOTO 5.png|Cower before the Black Mermaid! After she's finished this chapter. TCOTO 6.png|And the mugging. Oh, the mugging... Oh yes, we’ve elevated the threat to destroying the universe. Because conquering or destroying the world just wasn’t enough. This highlights a very common problem in mermaid shows: you have spent the last several episodes giving your characters enough powers to take on the entire Greek pantheon easily. Why. Don’t. They. Use. Them? The ring comes out of nowhere, works for no explained reason, and it’s not even clear how it exorcises the Black Mermaid (and why throwing it made it work). I still don't know what Jack's third power was, or even if he got one. The main problem with this show is that some of the best buildups get no payoff. Characters just sort of fade into the background, powers are introduced and then forgotten, and serious situations become farces by the next episode. It's really disappointing to see cool, unique ideas fall to the wayside like this. Crazy Fan Theories The Black Mermaid defeated in the Season finale was just one of the original’s followers. The same name is applied to both the original and her followers, for starters. We got to hear the voice of the real Black Mermaid a few times, and she was creepy and violent, intensely focused on Lucy and Jack. The one who possessed Lucy acted completely different—perky, flighty, shrill and easily distracted. I am actually serious about this theory. Lucy does not have precognitive or telepathic powers: these were either projections by the other mermaid or coincidences. She's only used the precognition twice, once while telepathically talking to the other mermaid, and the other time it was only described, and seemed like she was just trying to reassure Jack. For telepathy, she only ever received messages, and I’m pretty sure a telepath could hear what their target mind was thinking or saying. The mermaid may have just assumed Lucy would get these powers, since she had them and their situations were so similar. Then again, maybe something darker is at work. The past mermaid seems benevolent, but Jack and Lucy almost got caught by the Black Mermaid because of her instructions. She and the Black Mermaid are both played by Lucy’s actress—what if they’re one and the same? She could have turned Lucy into a mermaid to recruit her into the new Black Mermaids. Maybe the past mermaid is some kind of alternate personality born from remnants of the Black Mermaid's conscience, telling Lucy a twisted version of the truth. She doesn't want Lucy to be trapped, but can't admit that she's the evil one. Or, to take things to an even darker level, maybe she's trying to commit suicide through Lucy. The Black Mermaids want their leader to return and destroy the world, but she's changed her mind. Whether through guilt, world-weariness, or knowing she can't control her darker urges, she's decided she needs to die. So, How's It Hold Up? Very promising. This show is focused around a real and engaging plot, not just “hey, I’ve got a mermaid tail, let’s film something!” Although I don’t know exactly what to call Jack (superhero?), it’s always fun to have non-mermaids or boys involved in the show, they stand out. The Black Mermaid is an intriguing and sometimes intimidating villain, and the past mermaid a fascinating ally. All they have to do is use these ideas to their full potential, let the actors play to their strengths instead of their weaknesses, and they’ll have an amazing and unique series. Category:Blog posts Category:Reviews